Wizards world

Wizards World (grammatically correct would be "Wizards' World") is a popular Russian massively multiplayer online role playing game allowing large numbers of players to interact within a fictional fantasy environment. The complete game interface is Russian. As of August 2007, there is more than a million registered game characters (each player can create multiple game characters, but only one of those can be active at any given time). There are several dedicated game servers, each maintaining a separate city with a unique set of buildings and a separate chat room.

Upon registration, players are allowed to choose their personality and thereby specify a unique set of starting features. Players may choose between elves, orcs and humans; at the same time the gender may be specified. Every game character has
* "Hit point limit", essentially health, a value determining how much damage a character can take during combat;
* "Strength", the measure of damage that the character's opponent will take upon a direct strike;
* "Magic", the measure of damage that a so-called "magic ricochet" will inflict, and in the same time the measure of character's ability to use magic scrolls in combat, essentially the intelligence. As the character develops, a player is free to choose to emphasize one or more of these three features thereby creating a unique set of abilities and strengths.

Combat in game

The core feature of the game is its combat environment. Essentially, players can engage in combat against each other (duels and group fights are possible) or against AI (fights against destructive monsters). A typical duel has up to two phases. A "ranged combat phase" starts as the battle begins. A battle map of 18x3 cells is presented. A player would place his or her game character at a border of a battle map and select one of three vertically aligned spots (A1, A2, A3) for the character to "stand upon". This position is not revealed to the opponent until the next turn. In the same time, a player would specify one of three vertically aligned spots in the opposite border (R1, R2, R3) thereby selecting a strike direction. Essentially, a player would try to predict which spot the opponent has chosen to place his or her character at and hit that exact spot with the direct strike. As soon as both players have specified their positions and there strike directions and finalized their selections, the map is revealed to both players. In case a direct strike hits the spot where the opponent's game character has been positioned, the game character takes damage. The damage is calculated by the game server as a random value between zero and the striker's maximum strength.

In addition to the direct strike, the server randomly positions a second, "magic" strike at each side of the battle map. The magic strike may or may not coincide with the player's direct strike. The damage that the magic strike inflicts is calculated by the server as a random value between zero and striker's maximum magic. In case both the magic strike and direct strike have hit the target, the damage from both strikes adds up.

In case both game characters have survived the first round (it is extremely rare that they do not), the next vertical row of spots become available for players to choose a position for a game character and strike direction. Effectively, the game characters make one step towards each other and the duel continues. There is a total of nine rounds of ranged combat. Upon the completion of the nine rounds and provided both game characters are still alive, the second phase, the melee battle, begins. In the second phase, the player chooses the enemy's body part to strike and the self characters' two body parts to protect. The strike can be directed into the head, chest, waist or legs, and combinations of H/C, C/W, W/L and H/L can be protected. The protection is absolute in the absence of any magical effects, i.e. if a player hit the protected body part, the protection can not be penetrated. Just as in the ranged fight, the server would randomly position a magic strike. A magic strike cannot penetrate the protection in the absence of other magic effects (see below). One on one fights against monsters follow the same procedure, but the opponent is controlled by the AI.

The melee phase continues until one or both players are dead. The winning player, if any, earns game money, so-called "Wizards World Money", or "WWM". Certain rare exceptions aside, a part of the monetary award is taken from the defeated player, and a part is supplied by the server (or technically the "Town Hall"). This means that if a player A engages in 20 battles with a player B and each wins ten times, both will go home with more money than what they came with. There is no monetary award for a draw. Players can progress to the next level and thereby gain and opportunity to improve their battle characteristics, by paying a certain amount of WWM. The higher the game character's current level, the more expensive the next one will be.

Apart from the duels, players at the Arena can engage in group battles. After players have joined the group fight, their game characters are sorted into two teams based on their strength and hit point limit. Players take turns as in duels, and during each turn a player's game character will fight each game character from the opposing team. Group fights against monsters are possible during so-called "monster invasions" where a group of monsters challenge human-controlled characters at the Arena. Additionally, groups of players can attack "Monster castles" in order to defeat creatures dwelling in multiple rooms on several floors. In each room, the battle continues as a separate group fight. Game characters staying alive at each floor may progress to the next one until all monsters have been defeated or all player-controlled characters slain. There is a substantial monetary gain for a successful castle siege, and participating game characters share the prize money according to the total hit points they inflict during the siege. The same mechanism specifies how much players win during group fights between human-controlled characters. The losing side loses money, but not during castle sieges.

Combat modifiers

Players can purchase items modifying their game character's attack strength, protection and strength of "magic ricochet". Items wear out with use and can be repaired for game money. Players can purchase licenses allowing them to manufacture items from raw materials available for sale and in special quests where a player would search for "treasure" of raw materials on a quest map and need to defeat monsters defending the stash. Additionally, destructive and protective "magic scrolls" are available. Each scroll costs a certain amount of "mana" to use, and the game character's ability to use scrolls is directly influenced by his or her level of Magic.

External links

Please note that the game is optimized for the Microsoft Internet Explorer.
* [http://wiw1.ru Game Home Page] Russian.
* [http://wiw1.ru/help00.htm Game Encyclopaedia] Russian.